


fair game

by loosenoodlepoodledoodle



Series: Meaningful Works [16]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, LGBTQ Themes, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:34:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29461362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosenoodlepoodledoodle/pseuds/loosenoodlepoodledoodle
Summary: Yeojin's older now, but she doesn't really look it, nor does she particularly feel it...
Series: Meaningful Works [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672393
Kudos: 5





	fair game

One morning, while waiting between her various tasks for the day, Yeojin found herself on her phone, looking up various English-language fanfics. She was using them to practice her English reading skills, all the better to show up her friend Lena, because academic rivalry between friends is no bad thing. Plus, most of them were simple little fluff pieces, perfect for brightening her day.

Until she found _the one._

***

I must warn you, Dear Reader, not to go looking for this thing. It leaves scar tissue in the mind. It may even (hopefully) have been deleted by now. But if you are one of those unfortunate enough to have found it, you have my sympathy, for it also left an empty void in my psyche.

And _that_ is the one that Yeojin just found.

Once she realized what it was, she tried to stop reading it, but something compelled her to skim to the end, where it only got worse. The unreadable brick wall of condemning comments mollified her, but only slightly. She was shaken, all the more so by her extreme youth in the “story,” as well as the dubious consent of the scene.

She tried to distract herself, finding chocolate and even teasing Olivia with it. Then her nerve broke, and she wrapped her arms around her compatriot, who was confused by the display. Yeojin refused to share what had happened, and when Olivia left to go do something, she found Heejin and clung to her tightly instead.

“What’s gotten into you?” asked Heejin.

Yeojin bit her lip. She would have preferred to tell HaSeul, but HaSeul was still not back and who knew whether she’d be able to handle the strain on her spirit the forbidden knowledge would cause. So it was either telling Heejin right now, or keeping it to herself for eternity.

She decided that forever was way too long.

“I found out…that some fans like talking about, um…”

“Yeah?” said Heejin, as gentle and encouraging as she could muster.

“They like talking about their fantasies about us. Like, uh, _sex_ stuff.”

Heejin sighed. They couldn’t keep protecting their baby…

“Did someone send you a message?”

“No,” said Yeojin, shaking her head. The motion was awkward with the way she leaned into Heejin’s shoulder. “I was looking at, like, a kind of fan site, I guess, and then, oh _shit_ , there it was.”

Heejin was too curious too resist, not realizing how bad it could really be. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Yeojin hiccoughed, a little one, an old habit long gone brought to the fore. She told Heejin what she had read, and her senior tensed up, then succumbed to the shakes.

“Christ, you were only fourteen in that story?” she hissed through her teeth. “Men are such pigs.”

“Yup,” said Yeojin, but what she felt then surprised her. Talking about it provided a measure of relief, of catharsis. She was calmer now, able to take a step back from the brink.

“Can we snuggle somewhere?” she asked Heejin.

“Sure,” said Heejin, “of course.”

So they did.

***

There was a couch in an unoccupied room that was perfect for snuggles. They laid there together, quietly, and Yeojin started to think. About attraction, about her place in the world, and about her sexuality. She’d felt desire when she was younger, and she’d had crushes, so the idea that other people would have certain feelings towards her wasn’t too unexpected. She even wondered what she might have done herself, if she’d had the idea to write something online at that age. And what about those fluff pieces she’d read? Wasn’t it just a difference of degree, comparing those trite romances with the hardcore porn of the other?

“Heejin, how would you feel if that story had been written about me today?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Like, what if it was my eighteen-year-old self, rather than my fourteen-year-old self?”

Heejin hesitated.

“It would still be gross…but yeah, it wouldn’t be _as_ gross.”

“Because I’m an adult now. Technically.”

“Technically, yeah.”

Yeojin was silent for a moment.

“What would you—er, how would you feel if someone wrote about us snuggling like this, right now, and it got real explicit?”

Slowly, Heejin was stunned, her every attempt to get a word out thwarted by her growing confusion. Finally she admitted, “Yeah, I’m sure stuff like that happens. I don’t even know what I could say about it.”

“What about Yves and Chuu? Everybody thinks they’re gay, literally no one online thinks they’re straight…”

“Yeojin, I…”

“And what about—”

But she was cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. In came Olivia, back from her errand.

“Oh, you’re in here. Wow, what a cute couple,” she added, sarcastically.

Frowning, Heejin sat up, and Yeojin couldn’t stop herself from looking Olivia up and down. Olivia noticed, and did a double-take.

“What’s gotten in to you?”

Yeojin shrugged. “Nothing, Hyejoo. I mean, I’m all grown up now, but everything’s different, even though nothing has changed.”

From the look on her face, Yeojin thought that Hyejoo might just understand.


End file.
